“From two years ago I feel we got some redemption now, we can put 2016 behind us,” he added.

A largely processional race under cloudy skies saw the safety car stay in the pits, with only a virtual safety car needed in the closing laps.

That was triggered by Sauber’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc, the first local F1 driver in 24 years to compete on his home streets, having piled into the back of New Zealander Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso at the tunnel exit.